ianlopez1115's diary

Recent diary entries

Over seven months ago, I stumbled upon a publication announcing that many street names (, buildings and other open spaces) inside the University of the Philippines Los Baños campus area will be changed in honor of the many people who contributed much to it. For this posting, I'm focusing on street names.

Since then, I've been waiting for the street signs to go up and reflect such changes. As of this week (and in time for their annual alumni homecoming event/s), some of the street signs went up. Almost instantly, I recorded them and added such info on the map.

Looks like we're the first one to reflect such changes on the map.

But then again, not all (new) street signs are up. For the next months, such changes will be reflected on the map, little by little.

After 3-4 months of mapping with little or no documentation in the User Diary, I decided to map a new mall found approximately 3 kilometers east of downtown area. Since it started its construction a few months back, I decided to check out its progress every other day. But other activities forced me to limit the update to the point that I cannot make substantial edits to the area.

Many people, including the San Pableños (an adjective to describe the residents of my home city), waited for months. Now the wait is over, and some of my online friends commented that virtually all of San Pablo City was practically deserted as many of its residents drove or commuted to the new mall. In fact, one of them was curious with the new mall, as she was away from the city (and the country) for quite some time. I told her that I already went to the above-mentioned establishment and mapped it, but I didn't enter the building (since my intention was to map, not to engage in retail therapy or compulsive buying. Also, there were too many people window shopping and camwhoring at that time). I also gave her the link to the map showing SM City San Pablo (the name of the establishment).

Personally, I believe that my contributions a few hours back made OpenStreetMap the most up to date online map of SM City San Pablo so far (That's what MapCompare said.) Regardless of its effects on traffic and the entire city in general, SM City San Pablo now becomes part of OpenStreetMap history (in my opinion) as probably the first retail area in southwest Luzon that was *somewhat* thoroughly mapped on its first day of operations.

240+ entries ago, I made an entry about my not-so-good mapping experience. Since then, I never came back to Los Baños until this morning. After mapping a portion of the area, I decided to go to the Barangay Hall to check if someone tried to file a complaint against me (on that day). Thankfully, no one did.

I managed to talk to an official, and I asked him if my actions on that fateful day (mapping housenumbers without the malicious intent of "invading someone's privacy" or planning a heist) could have sent me into various kinds of trouble. According to him, probably not, since I'm just documenting housenumbers. Nothing more, nothing less.

I'm now glad that this problem is solved, more or less. But this should serve as a warning for those who'll try to map housenumbers, myself included. There are people out there who are paranoid when it comes to privacy.

Got approached by a local of Batong Malake (in Los Baños, Laguna), because I was mapping certain amenities and housenumbers. He was less than pleased (and he has a sticker on his car identifying himself as a member of a local gun club, as he was driving a car at that time) but I assured him that his privacy is guaranteed.

What's wrong with that? Simple: I was mapping that guy's housenumber.

Is there a clause somewhere in the OpenStreetMap wiki (or some blog managed by OSMers) stating that we can't describe the occupants of a certain housenumber (especially if the occupants are very paranoid when it comes to their privacy), except if it "houses" an actual amenity (like restaurants and convenience stores)? And do we need ID's to confirm our identities as volunteer surveyors, if we are suspected of doing something bad (like preparing for a robbery or a more dastardly and criminal act)?

Before you consider this post as spam, this is a mapping checklist, which will be accomplished (or not) for the trip to Baguio City, which will happen this weekend. (Also, I can use this trip as an excuse to avoid certain real life drama)

* Add POI's between Valenzuela and Baguio Cities (Read: 200~ kilometers, 100~ waypoints. If you add a stopover at Manaoag, Pangasinan, add 50+ waypoints.)
* Find out if Marcos Highway (the less dangerous route to Baguio) should be upgraded to trunk status. Also find out if Kennon Road should be downgraded to primary road status
* Find out where the "blasted" bust of former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos is (clue - located along the Marcos Highway before the tunnel if Baguio-bound)
* Add POI's within downtown Baguio and some nearby tourist attractions

Last week, I haven't edited "that much". For some reason, I can't use the computer (at that time), and it meant that some of my traces won't be uploaded to OSM.

Fortunately, I was given a chance to watch a dirt bike race (a race for motorcycles in a temporary or a permanent dirt track)in the Saint Francis Subdivision area, which I've mapped, more or less. One thing that I have noticed is that I am now in the mood to add more housenumbers, and some buildings. Sadly, my place doesn't have good aerial imagery, and I may consider taking some aerial images through a remote controlled helicopter (RC helicopter), since you don't know the approximate limits of certain buildings. Especially if some of those buildings are connected to other buildings. It sucks when you don't know where one building ends and another building begins (or something like that).

Anyway, I just realized that our map needs more work. Especially if that map could be more acurate than a travel map or a local map. The last update of the latter map was in 1992, and a lot of things have changed since then. Unityville only existed since the early 2000's (primarily as a resettlement area), and Brion Subdivision was under development at that time. I haven't been to most places that were on the map, since it is either too dangerous, too far, or there's too little time. (Or the assigned driver's too busy fixing some appliances or vehicles, or I'm just too lazy). Either way, this frustrates my goals of having at least 30-45% of San Pablo City's streets on OSM.

Recently, I've read this diary post, and somewhere in that post, wallclimber21 talks about the lack of OSM love in the (supposed) city of brotherly love. Or in his words, "its share of TLC." The good news, is that I have decided to use keep right as one of my OSM tools. The bad news, is that my home city has some spots that need to be fixed. I've managed to connect some nearby roads, and the only problem (for now) is to get the names for some establishments that I've previously mapped (some churches, 2 cinemas and a local fast food joint).

I've managed to make some corrections between San Pablo City and Los Baños, and this "extended" to a stretch of the South Luzon Expressway, then to some place west of Alabang, then proceeding to the Don Galo-Santo Niño-Tambo area, then to the Libis area. Hours ago, I've done the C-5 Kalayaan Avenue intersection, the Boni-Pioneer tunnel (which should be routable in two weeks), Cubao, and the EDSA-Quezon Avenue intersection.

I've also manipulated the EDSA-Aurora Boulevard intersection to make sure that the routing services "pass through" the Aurora Tunnel when you choose the fastest way. (BTW, passing through the said tunnel is supposedly a bit faster than passing through the at-grade section, which has traffic signals, thus delaying you by 30 seconds or so), and added foot=no to that intersection (so that they have to use the footbridge one way or another). I also did the same thing, more or less, in the C5-Kalayaan Area.

A couple of paragraphs ago, I said that our map, which obviously refers to OpenStreetMap, needs more work. keep right!, and the lack of somewhat accurate coverage in some places near my home city are some of the reasons why I should stay contributing for OpenStreetMap. Maybe my map could replace the local map, which is still for sale at a local shop.

It has been almost a month since I made my last diary entry. Since that time, I'm now looking for more "shortcuts" to my neighborhood. One route is considered a bit safe, since you only get to ride on a small vehicle that traverses along some supposedly abandoned railways, then walk an estimated 200 meters to the gate of Nefortville, then you walk towards your destination (which can be either your home, or the place where you used to study, which is not far from my neighborhood). Another route that I've discovered is from Mareflor/Marleflor street to Parkview street in nearby Mariño Subdivision. I only used the latter route once, because I thought that the said route would lead me to the train tracks. However, some stretches of the path are either dangerous or treacherous. Especially in the part close to the banks of the Malinao River. I nearly slipped while approaching the river through some muddy steps. Thanfully, I didn't slipped, and half of my body and the GPS nearly got wet (the GPS still works as of now).

Just last week, I discovered another footway near my neighborhood, and it led me to some footways in nearby San Lucas 1. While mapping, some local saw me and asked "Why are you doing here?" I told her that I was mapping the place, and mark places where to go and not to go (including her house, which is now marked as a no-go [a.k.a. access=private] area,), and to find out if that footway goes to some place. She told me that no footways to the other side existed a long time ago. To end the "conversation", I said thanks and apologized for causing this kind of trouble. I do hope that this won't happen again. Other than that, it's just discovering new footways, adding some housenumbers and POIs.

And last Saturday, my father and I rode on a motorcycle and it was raining. We then decided to take a shortcut back to our neighborhood. Along the way, he discovered a flat tire at the back, which was fixed an hour later. Flat tire or not, the track is now in OSM.

Barely an hour ago, my cousin saw OpenStreetMap and told me that there are various "shortcuts" near my place that is not yet on the map. One foot-only route is from somewhere in Car Dil Village to the back of BLISS Chapel, while another shortcut is from somewhere near Unityville hamlet to a certain place between the villages of San Lucas 2 and San Pedro. I'd love to those places and map it, but I have to somewhat prioritize downtown San Pablo City, which probably needs the map more than I do.

I bought a travel map for the region covering San Pablo, and its coverage of the place was not as accurate as our coverage. It probably copied some areas from a local map and added some names to the streets that they copied. In some POIs, they even mixed up the names of two shops, and turned it into one shop. One POI's location is on the wrong side of the road. Another one is about 250 meters north of its supposed location. At least 3 POIs have the wrong names. Even worse, some places listed on that map closed shop or were renamed or something.

The only good thing about it is that I can compare its coverage to the local map's coverage, then compare their coverage to OSM's soon-to-be superior coverage. Maybe I should go to more places within the city, just to map those areas. Or invest in a RC helicopter and take aerial images for editing.

Since I got "lost" last June, I decided not to map some places without some sort of supervision. However, I think that now is the time to "get lost" for a bit since I'm not getting that much exercise that I needed (and the information that OSM needs - in my opinion)

The first time that I traced without any supervision was last August 14, when I managed to trace a road named "Daang Kalabaw", and a nearby residential area in Los Baños (here). On that day, I mapped some alleys and footways as well . The problem is that there are some motorcycles parked on those alleys (safety is no problem this time). Is it safe to add motorcycle=yes on a footway just because a motorcycle is parked and/or is found moving along the footway?

My other plans to map spontaneously (at that time) were temporarily interrupted, as I had to join my father and his friend in buying some car parts for their common friend. However, this did not stop me from making a few more edits in the Banaue, Quezon City area with the help of my GT-31. Sadly, there are too many car parts shops to add (and not enough time to take notes in the area, as I was busy chatting with my father's friend).

The last two days are a bit interesting - I had to avoid moving vehicles in both circumstances. Yesterday, I was planning to find the southern limits of a residential compound (near the railway), but I decided instead to trace a portion of the railway tracks. However, I found another alley, which leads to a nearby residential area. And since it is a residential area, it means street names (since there are none as of now) and my personal favorite - housenumbers.

Today was a total mess - I had to endure a woman who was yakking at the jeepney driver over some family and financial dispute. Unfortunately, this meant that my plans to map another part of downtown San Pablo City were unfortunately altered. At that point, I decided to leave the jeepney in a place where I wasn't supposed to be. Anyway, I decided to get more street names and take down more housenumbers. When you click "map" and zoom it to 16-18, you've seen the place where I've been to "get" some housenumbers. On Pilar Street, I had to "go back" twice since I have got some housenumbers incorrectly. This was obviously solved, and I was on my way home when I completed taking a few more housenumbers on F. Mariño Street.

So far, I haven't uploaded the traces from the last two "trips" since I'm "busy" turning my latest tracks and waypoints into usable OSM data. Hopefully, I'll get to map a few more places a bit close but not too far from my house, so that no one will raise suspicion about my whereabouts (and hope that no one will bother the driver in the daily commutes to and fro San Pablo and Los Baños).

That experience in Los Baños taught me some lessons. But time will tell if I have learned from it.

Since probably last month, I started mapping in Los Baños, Laguna, because I had to do some pre-college work (I'll be studying in the second semester). Luckily, there was time for a bit of mapping - between eight and nine in the morning and four to five in the afternoon. Little did I know (before) that Google Maps has a good coverage of the area, thanks to the MapMaker contributors. Still, that didn't stop me from mapping most of Umali Subdivision, Barangay Batong Malake (tagged as a village), and some nearby places, including the University of the Philippines - Los Baños (UPLB) campus.

From my honest opinion, Google Maps doesn't have at least 50 to 90% of the footways that I've mapped. Not only that, I am now in the process of adding nearby dormitories (with the currently “unrenderable” amenity=dormitory tag), phone boxes (or phone booths) and convenience stores. And since OSM is way behind the big G inside the UPLB campus, I've decided to add buildings, parking lots, driveways, footways, and of course, the streets. I may add some trees of historical value, but one of them is a bit controversial since intercourse happens there (and I won't go into detail, thank you). Other than that, it's just trace, trace, trace and edit, edit, edit.

Also, when I first checked the GeoFabrik Map Compare tool, the Demarses and Santa Fe subdivision streets were not displayed on the MapMaker portion (and OSM got it first). Now both maps are on "equal terms" except for Rhaminad Street within Santa Fe (which Google doesn’t have as of now). I believe it's more or less the same scenario in the places that I've been for the last 30 days or so, except for an area between the railway tracks and Bangkal Road, where I added at least two roads and a few footways and tracks.

To end this, I have talked to some barangay officials regarding the use of OpenStreetMap and its benefits. So far, I received good feedback from them. Did the same thing with the UPLB Police Force, but this part is very tricky. My question to you regarding that is this: How can the UPLB Police Force benefit from utilizing OSM? And will it help them in a good way?

And one more thing, I may have to ask the postal code boundary (separating 4030 from 4031) from the assigned mailman in the UPLB Post Office when I go back to Elbi tomorrow morning (Elbi is a shortened version of Los Baños, used by locals and students). Keep mapping and another person doesn't have to get lost, thanks to you.

Postscript: "intensive mapping" in Los Baños doesn't mean "abandoning" San Pablo City. In fact, I'm just planning another set of rides in areas yet to be specified within my home city.

Tomorrow is Philiipine Independence Day, and there is no better way to celebrate it than to drive along the city's streets (and in some cases, alleys). I will be using a borrowed motorcycle to make those traces and hopefully, add a few more roads. I may pass through the place where the GPS device nearly got screwed, which may vindicate some of my failed mapping attempts.

I had uploaded some tracks which I have stored for some time (one was not uploaded for two months). Since I had some trouble with my computer recently, I decided to upoad a load of them, starting today. I also made some edits in Paete, but the GPS trace is too messy. I have also started to make minor edits in downtown Los Baños (and another university other than the University of the Philippines Los Baños - located just 5-10 minutes from the downtown area) and expected to make edits in my home city, and two nearby towns.

Other than that, I am planning to map out other areas and add some housenumbers farther from my neighborhod. This will be challenging, as some occupants decide to obscure the view of housenumbers currently assigned by the barangays (or hide the housenumber plates). Also, at least one comanion in my mapping is afraid of dogs (and that really hampers my mapping plans) and at this moment, it is raining hard.

Other than that, is there a way to tag a temporary concert venue? From what I know, it is mostly abandoned on "ordinary days". The location can be found below. (The reason is that there is an upcoming concert and some people who are kinda new to the area may want to know where the concert is being held. I also think that the said place is also the place where a very popular band had its final concert.)

For now, just hope that I can go to many places not only for its primary purpose (there are many, I believe) but also to add more essential information and points of interests for OpenStreetMap.

I'm now in the process of fixing Manila & Makati City boundaries node by node, splitting them, adding relation:boundary so that they can look "re-connected". It is a very, very, very complicated kind of work for me here. Should be finished in a couple of hours.

I have a question for you: how do I render a portion of Marcos Paulino Avenue? (123456) (this might be silly and confusing, but this road is very unique in San Pablo City. Also, the term "the avenue in question" refers to Marcos Paulino Avenue.)

[scenario begins]The stretch of the said avenue from Hermanos Belen to Francisco Balagtas Boulevard is oneway (southbound/southeastbound) from five in the morning to nine in the evening. Motorists from Jose Rizal Avenue can access the entire stretch of the avenue in question, A Regidor Street, and Miguel Leonor Street, but cannot access Hermanos Belen and Jose Burgos Streets. Motorists coming from Hermanos Belen can pass through the stretch of the avenue in question bound for Rizal Avenue or pass through the stretch bound for Regidor, and other streets (but cannot access Hermanos Belen, since it is a oneway street). Motorists from Jose Burgos street can pass through the stretch of the avenue in question bound for Rizal Avenue (but cannot access Hermanos Belen, since it is a oneway street) or pass through the stretch bound for Regidor, and other streets.

From Regidor, you cannot make a left turn from 5 am to 9 pm but you can make a right turn 24/7. From Leonor, you can't pass through the avenue in question unless you're bound for the nearby shopping center (which will be mapped in a couple of days; found along the avenue in question), Francisco Balagtas Boulevard, and the nearby San Francisco (Calihan) barangay/village from 5 am to 9 pm. Otherwise, you can go northbound on the avenue in question, and pass through Regidor Street or head towards Rizal Avenue. From Crispin Calabia Avenue/San Francisco (Calihan), you can pass through the avenue in quesion, but you need to make a mandatory (from 5 am to 9 pm) right turn towards Francisco Balagtas Boulevard. Otherwise, you can pass through the avenue in question to your destination. From Balagtas Boulevard, you must make a mandatory left turn towards San Francisco (Calihan) from 500-2100. [scenario ends]

I appreciate your help. Thank you in advance.

UPDATE: A portion of Marcos Paulino Avenue (from Miguel Leonor to the bridge) "tested" for any restrictions, results here.

UPDATE 2: The "test" worked earlier, applied it, worked perfectly. Looks like I answered my question above. Since there are alot of similar "confusing" street signs in Metro Manila, maybe they should take a look on that link given a paragraph ago.

I asked my cousin to take a ride on his scooter (a kind of motorcycle) and map some roads within San Pablo City (but it is a bit far from the City Proper or the Poblacion). On the way, I noticed that my GPS was stuck (or hung, depending on your use). And the bad par is that it was raining when I noticed it. So we went along our way, almost drenched and the GPS not working. The model that I'm using at this moment is a GT-31, made by Locosys. To summarize it, my father fixed it. I need to know how to make sure it doesn't get stuck, and if it does/did, how can I fix it?

After over 6 months of editing without a GPS in my home city (and editing a good portion of Metro Manila during that time), I finally tested out the GT-31 GPS device, and the tracks were accurate. It was fun taking the tracks but I had a lot of difficulty in setting up the device a few days ago (even a few hours ago, I don't know how to operate this. Tomorrow morning, I'll go for a jog along Sampaloc Lake, which is cose to my place. You can find the trace made by the GPS here.